News
December 26, 2006
Once again, I've been too busy lately to update this site. If you click through to this page, you'll see one reason why—Irene and I have just returned from a trip to Egypt. That means I have now set foot on every continent!
In other news:
Marvel Comics just sent me a copy of yet another omnibus edition containing a comic-book story I was involved with back in the day. (That day being 1975.) The story, which originally appeared in Giant-Size Defenders #3, is now collected in The Essential Defenders Volume 2.
What's weird is that I have no memory of having had anything to do with this tale, even though the plot for the issue is clearly credited to "Steve Gerber, Gerry Conway, Roger Slifer, Len Wein, Chris Claremont and Scott Edelman." Back when I was an Assistant Editor at Marvel, I was often pulled into editorial plotting conferences. For example, I clearly remember sitting in on a plot meeting for Giant-Size X-Man #1, and can even recall suggesting the identity of the villain that was eventually used. I received no credit for that—so why did I get one here? After 31 years, I can't remember ... and doubt I ever will.
Also—my short story "A Very Private Tour of a Very Public Museum" has been accepted for publication in PostScripts magazine, and will appear in print sometime in 2008.
November 16, 2006
I've been too busy lately to update this page, so it's time to play catch-up.
My short story "What We Still Talk About" is out now in the DAW anthology Forbidden Planets.
Check out the 23 photos I posted from the 2006 World Fantasy Convention in Austin, Texas.
My short story "Live People Don't Understand," originally published in the anthology The Book of All Flesh, has just come out in a Spanish edition, El Libro de los Zombies. The story's translated title is "Los Vivos No Lo Comprenden."
And here's my schedule for this year's PhilCon, to be held this weekend at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel:
Saturday, Nov. 18 at 3:00 p.m.: "Balonium"
Sunday, Nov. 19 at 1:00 p.m.: "Avoiding Publishing Scams"
Sunday, Nov. 19 at 2:00 p.m.: "50 Ways to Leave Your Reader ... "
I'm told that I'll also be doing a reading, though I haven't learned the date and time for that yet. But I hope to see you there!
August 29, 2006Now that I've survived L.A. Con IV, I've posted 51 photos from the weekend. Another great WorldCon, and I can't wait until next year in Yokohama!
August 3, 2006Here's my schedule for L.A. Con IV, the 64th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held later this month in Anaheim, California:
Wednesday, Aug. 23 at 5:00 p.m.: KaffeeklatschJuly 6, 2006
Thursday, Aug. 24 at 11:00 a.m.: Reading
Thursday, Aug. 24 at 2:30 p.m.: "The Surface of the Invasion is at the Threshold"
Thursday, Aug. 24 at 4:00 p.m.: Autographing
Friday, Aug. 25 at 2:30 p.m.: "Literary vs. Media SF"
Friday, Aug. 25 at 4:00 p.m.: "Magazines: Flourishing or Withering Away"
Saturday, Aug. 26 at 1:00 p.m.: "Metropolis: The Future of Big Cities"
Sunday, Aug. 27 at 1:00 p.m.: "You Can't Make a Cutting Edge By Grinding Your Axe"
My short story "A Judgment Call for Judgment Day" has just been accepted for the World War II horror anthology A Dark and Deadly Valley. The book is edited by Michael Heffernan, who first took a story of mine last year for his zombie anthology Aim for the Head: 25 Tales of Zombie Terror & Mayhem. (But that anthology won't be out until next year).
The entire table of contents hasn't yet been finalized yet, but I know that it includes Harry Shannon, Paul Finch, David J. Schow, Steve Vernon, Larry Santoro, Scott Nicholson, Elizabeth Massie, John Everson, Rick Hautala, Gary A. Braunbeck, Weston Ochse, Graham Joyce, and Brian Hodge. The cover art is by Darren Whalen, who's also handling the interior illustrations for the zombie book.
A Dark and Deadly Valley is due out from Silverthought Press in October or November—just in time for Veterans Day, I imagine.
July 5, 2006
Here's where you'll be able to find me at Readercon 17, to be held this weekend in Burlington, Massachusetts. It's my favorite convention of the year. I haven't missed a Readercon yet!
Friday, July 7 at 5:00 p.m.: "I've Have No Idea Why I'm on This Panel"
Friday, July 7 at 10:00 p.m.: Presentation of the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award
Saturday, July 8 at 3:00 p.m.: "I Never Metafiction I Didn't Like"
Sunday, July 9 at 12:00 noon: Kaffeeklatsch
Sunday, July 9 at 2:00 p.m.: Reading of "Almost the Last Story by Almost the Last Man"
I hope to see you there!
June 24, 2006
I just received the cover for the DAW anthology Forbidden Planets, which I mentioned earlier. It's edited by Peter Crowther, who also published stories of mine in his anthologies Moon Shots (1999) and Mars Probes (2002), and has an official publication date of November 7, 2006.
In addition to my short story "What We Still Talk About," the book will also contain stories by Matthew Hughes, Jay Lake, Paul McAuley, Alastair Reynolds, Paul Di Filippo, Stephen Baxter, Chris Roberson, Ian McDonald, Michael Moorcock, Alex Irvine and Adam Roberts, plus an introduction by Ray Bradbury and an afterword by Baxter. In other news, Readercon 17 is just around the corner. I'll be there—I've been to them all—and I hope to be able to post my schedule soon. May 16, 2006The 2006 Nebula Awards Weekend is over, but I've posted some pictures to help you remember ... or pretend that you were there.
April 1, 2006
"The Final Flower," a five-page back-up story I wrote for Marvel Comics in the late '70s, is the third comic-book story of mine to be reprinted in a trade paperback since December. The 224-page book, Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos, is primarily made up of a long sequence written by Jim Starlin and drawn by Ron Lim of Thanos' quest to become a god. My contribution is blurbed on the back cover as: "Also featuring a rare Thanos solo story from Logan's Run #6 not seen in almost thirty years!" (Of course, almost any comic-book story of mine has been unseen for almost thirty years—I don't think I've written a word for a comic-book company since 1981 or 1982!)
I wrote quite a few of those five-pagers back when I worked for Marvel. The editors felt that they perhaps the dreaded deadline doom could be averted if the writers of regular series had a month in which to produce shorter stories, with our five-pagers filling our the rest of the space. It gave us newcomers a change to try out our talents—I think my story reprinted here was also the first story Mike Zeck ever did for Marvel—but I don't think that it helped out with deadlines in the long run.
In other news, I've just learned that the upcoming DAW anthology Forbidden Planets, which I mentioned earlier will contain my short story titled "What We Still Talk About," will be coming out in November.
February 17, 2006I've just learned from editor Pete Crowther that he has accepted my 13,000-word tale titled "Almost the Last Story by Almost the Last Man" for publication in Postscripts magazine. Patience, though—you won't be able to read it until 2007, when it will appear in either the Summer or Autumn issue.
January 31, 2006
My past seems to be catching up with me, as a second of my Marvel Comics stories from the 1970s has just been reprinted in as many months. This time around, it's my fill-in issue for Omega the Unknown that originally appeared in March 1977 (about which I wrote here) that's collected in a 224-page trade paperback titled Omega the Unknown Classics.
To be honest, though, I sense that this short-lived series hasn't been reprinted entirely on its own merits. Omega was never more than one of Marvel's second-tier heroes, and it could be argued that the character was more of a third-tier hero, one known only to the congniscenti, much like Brother Power, the Geek.
But the character has suddenly became buzzworthy thanks to Jonathan Lethem's championing of him in the pages of his brilliant novel Fortress of Solitude. Marvel subsequently hired Lethem to update the character in an upcoming miniseries. So the motivation behind issuing this collection is more to pave the way for what is to come rather than for its own sake. Think of it as akin to those "previously on" intros that appear on TV before your favorite shows.
Whatever the reasons for bringing my story back into print, seeing it again does stir up a dizzying rush of nostalgia.